Kids doing the "disappearing act"

[Dominique Goh]

Last weekend I had a great shock when a friends son suddenly went missing during a gathering. We were leaving the place and were waiting for the lift to the car park. I didn't realised that my friend W's elder boy had sneaked out of the house and went down the lift himself. I was shocked when I saw him standing in the lobby leading to the car park on his own without his parents. I asked him what he was doing there and he said that he was waiting for his parents to come down.

Finding his statement rather fishy I immediately brought him back to the party venue to double check with his parents. I personally would not let a 4 yr old ride a lift by himself and I am sure that his parents wouldn't either.

When the lift opened at the unit I saw his worried parents looking for him. Handing him over to his parents I had to rush off as my boys and hubby were waiting for me at the car . I wasn't able to talk much with W.

We did communicate later via the phone and she got the whole story of how her son took the lift down by himself . It was a real scary episode on how easy your child can go missing. It reminded me how important it is to make sure that my boys hold my hands or be put on "leash" if they are in a crowded area lease they go missing like W's son.